Sanborn: Thank You for Allowing Me to Serve You

By State Sen. Andy Sanbon

I want to thank each and everyone one of you for giving me the opportunity to represent you in Concord for the past two years. It has truly been one of the highlights of my life.

While we all see the daily dysfunction in Washington, where nothing seems to get accomplished, here in our little state, the NH Senate has come together and accomplished many things to make our lives better, and I am so proud to have been part of its Now that doesn’t mean both sides of the political aisle are always together on every issue; look, I’m known as a true traditional frugal guy with your tax dollars and when politicians try to raise taxes or create un-necessary burdens on the people of this State, I do strongly opposed it. I’m cheap with your money and I know you appreciate a representative who actually tries to spend less of your hard earned tax dollars.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t come together on other issues and get good things done, because we do and I’m proud that elected officials from both sides have been supportive of my legislative efforts. In fact, in half of the legislation I sponsored this year I had Democrats join in and support me.

This has included requiring the state to re-establish previously promised payments on waste water and sewer treatment plants to our towns in the area that make taxpayer funded infrastructure improvements, only to see the State renege on its commitment. Not so ironically the State also reneged on its commitment to compensate local towns which gave up taxable land for water ways, with the understanding that the state would keep its end of the bargain and when it didn’t, I put forth legislation to make the state do so.

On a more personal note, together we created the first ever domestic violence protection statue and for the first time in decades re-visited the state’s pay equity laws. I am proud that Democrat state Sen. David Pierce joined me in crafting a sweeping amendment to modernize the New Hampshire law.

As the chairman of the Commerce committee (which oversees all things Banking, Insurance and general commerce in the State) I am proud in my efforts to help organize this fight against our out of control opioid drug use, which is becoming such a concern to all of us. I was really excited to prove we could bring people together and actually make meaningful changes to how we address issues like this, without having to pass yet another law.

I also have been so humbled to be able to work on making schools safer for the children of New Hampshire, especially during unfortunate, challenging times like finding that balance between children who are acting up and those who may be caught up in it. We came together to create reasonable, safe, consistent child safety protection protocols which find that balance between the schools and children.

Being raised between two farms in northern New Hampshire has only re-enforced my commitment to supporting farmers in their attempts to more easily bring their products to your table and restaurant with less hassle from bureaucrats. I will continue to work on knocking down restrictions against our farming community, which will allow them to more easily enact “farm to table.” We’ve come a long way, but there is still much to do, to easily get great fresh New Hampshire food to your table.

Part of the job as a Senator also involves standing up for you, when our government becomes a bit over zealous in its actions or unresponsive in its positions. For example when the State proposed rules to restrict people’s access to our state parks with horses, was, frankly, just wrong and I’m firm in my protections of your enjoyment of our state parks. Glad to say we resolved that issue too, without having to pass yet another law.

Be it representing local property owners on State road expansion projects, to cutting through the red tape to get an educator a teaching certificate so they can have their contract extended, the job is diverse, challenging and embodies everything we think about in “public service”.

So, again thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to keep New Hampshire the best place in America to live, work and play and I promise I will continue to work everyday to make you proud.

My wife, Laurie and I wish you a happy and healthy end to summer.

Andy Sanborn is the state Senator for District 9.